Mumbai : Dr Dinesh Dua, arrested by the CBI recently in a graft case, is among the 16 members of the advisory committee set up by the Madhya Pradesh government to accelerate growth of the drug industry under Atmanirbhar Madhya Pradesh initiative.
In November 2020 the state government released the blueprint for Atmanirbhar Madhya Pradesh by 2023. The road map laid down clear milestones for development of infrastructure, health and education, economy and employment and good governance.
The committee was formed by the Madhya Pradesh government to improve quality of manufactured pharmaceutical products in the state to boost their share in domestic and international market and identify gaps in existing business assistance services to promote export of pharmaceuticals under Atmanirbhar Madhya Pradesh initiative, according to a circular issued by General Administration Department, government of Madhya Pradesh on June 12, 2022.
The committee has six members from the government and nine members from the pharmaceutical industry. Headed by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the panel consists of minister for industrial policy and investment promotion, MSME minister, secretary, industrial policy and investment promotion department, secretary, MSME department. Managing director of MP Industrial Development Corporation (MPIDC) has been appointed as the member secretary in the panel, added the circular.
Besides them, the advisory committee has nine members from the pharma industry including managing director of Lupin Limited Nilesh Gupta, managing director of Symbiotec Pharmalab Pvt. Ltd Anil Satwani, managing director and CEO of Hind Pharma RS Goswami, CFO and director of Choksi Laboratories Pvt Ltd Vyangesh Choksi, CEO of Rini Life Science Pvt Ltd Akshat Chordia, CEO of Vindas Chemicals Pvt Ltd Dr Darshan Kataria, managing director of Gopsi Pharma Pvt Ltd and national president- Laghu Udyog Bharati Baldev Prajapati, managing director of Nikita Pharma Nikita Khurana, CEO and director of Nectar Life Sciences Dr Dinesh Dua, it said.
The committee meeting will be held twice a year and technical experts from the industry will be invited at the meet as per the requirement.
The appointment of Dr Dua to the advisory panel has drawn flak from the drug industry in Madhya Pradesh.
Said a drugmaker on condition of anonymity, “We appreciate the government’s initiative to form an advisory panel to spur growth of the local drug industry and make them competitive globally. There is no point appointing a member arrested in a bribery case. We appeal to the government to remove his name from the panel at the earliest in the interest of the industry.”
The CBI on June 21, 2022 arrested Dinesh Dua, director at Synergy Network India Private Limited for allegedly giving Joint Drugs Controller Dr S Eswara Reddy a bribe of Rs. 4 lakh to waive the phase 3 clinical trial of the ‘Insulin Aspart’ injection, an under development Biocon Biologics product to manage type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Dr Reddy was also arrested for allegedly receiving a bribe from Dua.
Besides Dua and Reddy, the CBI has also booked associate vice president of Biocon Biologics Ltd, Bengaluru, L Praveen Kumar, director, Bioinnovat Research Services Pvt Ltd, Delhi, Guljit Sethi as well as assistant drug inspector Animesh Kumar in the FIR registered under IPC sections of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and corruption. A special CBI court on July 19, 2022 rejected the bail pleas of all five accused.
